Obituary Stories

Claudia Papenmeier grew up attending St. John’s United Church of Christ in Larimer, and she remained active in the church well into her 70s. Mrs. Papenmeier met her husband, Arthur, at the church, where he served as a pastor in the 1950s. It was a role that she herself took...

Patricia Rooney, the wife of late Pittsburgh Steelers chairman and Ambassador Dan Rooney, died Saturday night at her home, the team announced. She was 88. The matriarch of the Steelers, Mrs. Rooney had nine children, including Art Rooney II, the team’s president. “My family and I are mourning the passing...

Joseph E. Pellis taught many life lessons to his children and his students. “When you get knocked down, you get back up until you can’t get up anymore,” recalled his son, Mark Pellis. The longtime athletic director at Norwin High School, Pellis also coached football and wrestling. He was an...

Sister Marguerite Moya Coyne, who served as the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg from 1998 to 2003, was known for her love of children and education, her friends and co-workers said. “She was a stellar woman and one of the best persons I’ve ever worked with,”...

Ralph Snyder had just moved his family from Norvelt to West Point in 1977 and signed up his oldest daughter, Renee, in the West Point Little League. His daughter made the West Point fast-pitch all-star team in 1978 and competed in the state tournament in Williamsport. West Point was overmatched....

Erie boxing promoter Mike Acri, whose clients included Roberto Duran and Hector “Macho” Camacho, died Sunday in Erie at age 63 following a 2½-year bout with pancreatic cancer. Acri, a top national promoter, also worked with boxer Paul “The Pittsburgh Kid” Spadafora. Acri was well known for arranging popular boxing...

Nancy Bush Ellis, a longtime Democrat who helped her Republican brother and nephew get elected president, has died of complications of the coronavirus. She was 94. “We are sad to share that President Bush’s beloved sister, Nancy Bush Ellis, has passed away. Our condolences and prayers are with the Ellis...

LAS VEGAS — Phyllis McGuire, the last surviving member of the three singing McGuire Sisters who topped the charts with several hits in the 1950s, has died. She was 89. The lead singer and younger sister of Dorothy and Christine McGuire died on Tuesday in Las Vegas, the Palm Eastern...

Bruce D. Ringer’s love of dogs and his wife were manifest, and not surprisingly intertwined. The longtime, legendary dog trainer, Ringer, 63, of Tarentum, died of colon cancer on Dec. 20. He was a dog trainer for more than 35 years and opened the first doggie day care in Allegheny...

LONDON — Stella Tennant, the aristocratic British model who was a muse to designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, died suddenly at the age of 50, her family said Wednesday. Tennant, the granddaughter of a duke, rose to fame in the 1990s while walking the runway for Versace,...

LONDON — John le Carre, the spy-turned-novelist whose elegant and intricate narratives defined the Cold War espionage thriller and brought acclaim to a genre critics had once ignored, has died. He was 89, Le Carre’s literary agency, Curtis Brown, said Sunday that he died in Cornwall, southwest England on Saturday...

After test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier, he confessed to the highly un-Yeager-like emotion of fear. “I was scared,” he wrote in a memoir, “knowing that many of my colleagues thought I was doomed to be blasted to pieces by an invisible brick...

Nationally syndicated columnist and George Mason University economics professor Walter Williams, whose work appeared regularly in the Tribune-Review, died on Wednesday at the age of 84. Over the course of his career, he was praised for his rigorous research on minority groups and government policies affecting African Americans. Williams, a...

RALEIGH, N.C. — Alonzo “Lon” T. Adams II, the man who created the formula for Slim Jim beef jerky sticks, has died from complications of covid-19. He was 95. Lynn Barrow of Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh, N.C., confirmed Wednesday that Adams died on Nov. 28. A graveside funeral service...

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — Robert Murray, the board chairman of the largest privately owned U.S. coal operator, who long fought federal regulations to reduce black lung disease, died at his home in Ohio less than a week after announcing his retirement, a lawyer said. Michael Shaheen, an attorney who had...

When visitors and residents in New Stanton admire the town’s new holiday lights this year, in large part, they’ll have Ron Echard to thank. Echard, who most recently served as mayor, is credited as a driving force behind the planned holiday display — along with his wife, Linda, who serves...

When people think of Kenneth W. Miller Jr., two things tend to come to mind — his dirt bike and a smile that could make any bad day good again. “He had such a magnetic personality,” his mom, Deann Miller, said. “You couldn’t look at him without smiling. … He...

NEW YORK — Regis Philbin, the genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” has died at 88. Philbin died of natural causes Friday night,...

Dr. Thomas Hower’s nearly 60-year career as a Greensburg chiropractor was a natural fit. He spent his childhood years upstairs from the Main Street office where his similarly named father, a second-generation chiropractor, worked — and where he also would see patients as an adult. “A gentlemen came into the...

Toni Nestico was a familiar, friendly face at The Nest Restaurant in Jeannette, where she served seafood dishes to customers for close to 30 years and was co-owner of the establishment, with her husband. “People loved her,” said her daughter, Alana, who used to wait tables at the restaurant along...

Dr. Lawrence Ferlan’s daughter, Mary Ferlan, found the words to sum up her father’s life: “He was about going and seeing and doing and learning.” Dr. Ferlan, who lived in Harrison and practiced medicine in Tarentum for decades, died in his New Hampshire house last Thursday. He was 85. “Larry...

Joel Schumacher, the flamboyant journeyman director who dressed New York department store windows before shepherding the Brat Pack to the big screen in “St. Elmo’s Fire” and steering the Batman franchise into its most baroque territory in “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin,” has died. He was 80. A representative...